Sunday 28th August 2011

Okay so it's been 2 weeks since I last blogged so I'm now a bad blogger as well as a bad diabetic!

This morning I put my insulin pump on after not having it on for 36 hours - there was no reason for not having it on I just didn't get round to it (or ignored it).  So this morning I tested my sugar and it was 17.3mmol/l which is high but not too bad for not having had insulin for 36 hours.  So I gave myself a bolus to correct the high sugar and have bolused for my meals so far today.

I'm not in work for a couple of works and really hope that I can get into some sort of routine of regular testing. There should be no excuses of not having time although I have got a busy week at home and then a week away but I'm going to make testing and getting my control on track my top priority.  My next diabetic appointment is in less than a month and I really want to go in and be able to give some positive feedback on my progress.

This week I also changed GP and the nurse I saw seemed really good.  She used to be a diabetic nurse in a hospital so she actually understood my condition and medication better than some medical professionals have done.  Anyway I have to go back on Friday (without Samuel this time) so we can have a proper chat apparently there are some other medications that I can take to help my body absorb insulin better.  I am a type two diabetic but I think my main problem is insulin resistance my body just can't absorb the insulin it is producing and I am providing.  To give you an idea I read the other day that a type one diabetic boluses 4 units of insulin for a meal (this is one individual and will obviously differ for others) whereas I bolus up to 35 units for a meal so a massive difference.  I  used to be on metformin which is a tablet which helps your body to absorb insulin but the side effects for me far outweighed the benefits and my diabetic consultant agreed it was not worth taking them.  Anyway I am intrigued to hear that there are other medications I can try and a bit disappointed that they haven't been offered to me before.

She also asked me if I have ever attended a Dafne course (this is a course which helps type 1 diabetics to learn calorie counting and how different foods affect blood sugars).  I haven't done the course but was interested to be referred for it, however, having done some research on the internet it is definitely targeted at type 1 diabetics and I am not sure if the same rules apply for type 2s so I will have to ask her about this on Friday as well.

So even though I have been bad I feel this is quite a positive post.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Kylie Hodges, Emma Bridges and Sonia Newton for keeping on my case about testing and posting my blood sugars.  I have been posting them occasionally on Facebook when I haven't had time to come and blog and will endeavour to keep doing so.  I've decided I don't care if other people get fed up with me posting my sugars the amount of twaddle that other people post sometimes - if they don't like it they don't have to read it.

Friday 29th July 2011

So after yesterdays post I agreed to post my blood sugars on facebook but I figure this is going to become quite boring for those people who don't care.  So instead I thought I would do a little diary for each day with my blood sugars and what I've eaten etc.

So after breakfast my blood sugar was 7.2mmol/l.

At 11.25 I had not had anything to eat since breakfast which for me is an absolute miracle.  I was starting to feel a bit peckish but had a drink of water to hold me off until lunchtime.

My blood sugar before lunch was a fantastic 5.7mmol/l.

I was really pleased with my pre-lunch blood sugar - it just goes to show that no snacking in the morning makes a big difference.  I went to Greggs to get my lunch and got a chicken and bacon sub roll and a lemon drizzle doughnut.  I know I shouldn't have had the doughnut but I'm a bit emotional today so treated myself.  I went to the Greggs website to find out the carbohydrate content for the items and was shocked to find that although they list the calories and the fat content they don't actually list carbohydrate content.  I decided to see if there was anyway of contacting them to ask if they can add carbohydrate content as surely this is part of nutritional information that should be given.

My blood sugar after lunch was 12.8mmol/l a little higher than it should be but I'm happy.

I found the contact details for Greggs and sent them this e-mail.

I was looking at your website today to try and find the carbohydrate content in one of your sandwiches and a doughnut.  I am diabetic so carbohydrate counting is very important when it comes to knowing how much insulin I should be giving following a meal.  I was surprised to find that although you list calorire and fat content for your products you don't actually list carbohydrate content.  It may be that I was looking in the wrong place and if this is the case I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.  If it is something that is not currently available I wonder if you would consider adding this information to your website in the future as I am sure all diabetics and others would find this information extremely useful.

Many thanks

I was quite surprised when within a couple of hours I got the following e-mail back.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about the carbohydrate contents in our food.

I'm sorry that this isn't available on our website and I have passed your comments on to our Marketing team to take into consideration when looking at future changes.

I've attached to this e-mail a copy of our nutritional leaflet which is available in our shops.  I hope this is of help to you.

If in the future you require any information for food that isn't on the leaflet please don't hesitate to contact me and I'll be more than happy to help.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us and we hope to see you in one of our shops in the near future.

I wonder if they really meant that anything from Greggs I can e-mail them about to find the carbohydrate content because although the leaflet they attached is very comprehensive it doesn't actually cover any of the cakes!!

Anyway let me know what you think about this diary style blogging.

Thanks again for your support.

Nxx

Thursday 5th May 2011

When I published my first post I really didn't expect anyone but my sister to read it.  I have been completely overwhelmed with the amount of support I have received with comments on here, on facebook and private messages people have sent me. 

On Wednesday after my appointment I tested my sugar before and after my evening meal and counted the carbohydrates in the meal.  I can't remember the last time I did this.  The readings were higher than they should be (10.5 before and 8.5 after) but I have to start somewhere (my blood sugar readings should be between 4 and 7).

Thursday morning the first thing I did was get on the computer and start writing this and reply to some more of the messages and comments I'd received.  I did my blood test and it was 5.4 which is perfect!!  I hope I can keep this feeling going as I really feel amazing. 

I hope my posts aren't going to be too boring for you all but I feel I need to make a record of what I'm doing again for the accountability but also so I can look back and see what I've accomplished.  I suppose I am going to use this blog a bit like a diary but I'm not going to commit to posting each day, I'll just see how it goes.

Later I am going to weigh myself and will publish what I weigh so I can keep track of my weight loss.  The thought of people knowing how much I actually weigh is actually quite terrifying for me but again I can't measure progress if I don't know where I started from.